• A 3-foot wide, shallow basket, made of out thick twigs, shows off 100 or more colorful Mexican peppers that fill the screen with green, yellow, orange, and bright red. Two small, white plastic bowls sit atop the stack of peppers with additional peppers arranged into a design like an opening flower—some leaning over the side of the bowl, and some pointing upwards.

    Benito Juarez Market Peppers

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Close up of a basket of red and green peppers for sale at the Benito Juarez market in Oaxaca, Mexico. This 3-foot wide basket of peppers completely covered the spectrum from green, yellow, orange, and bright red. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico. While the Benito Juarez Market isn't the only market in Oaxaca, it's a large and vibrant one with over 360 vendors selling ... everything.  
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  • Overlooking the Plaza de la Danza with the Basilica of Our Lady of Solitude on the right side of the image. A dark blue twilight sky frames the silhouetted trees in the back of the plaza and twinkling lights on the nearby mountain in the background. Young friends gather to talk on the far side of the plaza underneath the lamp light. Photo is taken from Avenue Jose Maria Morelos.

    Plaza de la Danza

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    People gather in the Plaza de la Danza (literally, "dance square") at dusk, adjacent to the Basilica of Our Lady of Solitude in Oaxaca, Mexico. Families still gather socially in plazas and squares throughout Mexico. This plaza was very close to our hotel, so we walked past it almost every evening. I thought it was a quintessential Mexican scene: a plaza with families and friends adjacent to the church and lights twinkling on the distant mountain as twilight fades to night. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Horizontal photo of an albrijes carving—brightly colored Mexican folk-art sculptures—of a fantastical mythical red bull. We see his torso and head from the right side. Extremely fine detailed albrije patterns completely cover the bull's skin. Colorful patterned strips outline the mouth, nose, eye, and horns. Circular patterns radiate from the chest, side, and hump on the back. These intricate patterns include minute chevrons, diagonal lines, dots, smaller circles, dashes, and stripes in colors of red and orange with accents in yellow and blue. His pink nostril centers over a long, bright pink tongue, which sticks out from his open mouth. Brown horns, accented with similar patterns in dark browns and gold, curve forward and up over the bull's forehead.

    Red bull alebrijes carving

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Red bull alebrijes carving in the Isaias Jimenez’s studio located in the small town of Arrazola, about 4-miles southwest of Oaxaca.  Isaias continues the Oaxacan alebrijes style created by his father Manuel Jiménez Ramírez (who has his own Wikipedia page). Alebrijes are a style of brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of imaginary and mythical creatures. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Horizontal photo of an albrijes carving—brightly colored Mexican folk-art sculptures—of a fantastical mythical multicolored dragon head. We see the head from the right side: blue at the top and bright orange on his neck. Large black eyes, surrounded by white, protrude from the top of his head, just in front of large rabbit-like ears and multicolored horns. Tiny black and white dots decorate his blue face. Large fangs angle from the top and bottom of his wide-open jaws. Yellow, black, and blue strips of paint outline his mouth. This angry dragon is ready to attack.

    Blue dragon alebrije carving

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Alebrije carving of a blue dragon in the Isaias Jimenez’s studio located in the small town of Arrazola, about 4-miles southwest of Oaxaca.  Isaias continues the Oaxacan alebrijes style created by his father Manuel Jiménez Ramírez (who has his own Wikipedia page). Alebrijes are a style of brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of imaginary and mythical creatures. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Horizontal photo of a woman working at a restaurant inside the public market in Ocotlan de Morelos. She wears traditional dress and apron embroidered with pink and red flowers and green stems and leaves. Her navy-blue scarf, wrapped around her neck and knotted in front, displays a similar red and pink flower design. Long, thick heavily mascaraed eyebrows almost converge at the bridge of her nose, framing dark brown eyes. She has traced her full lips, heavily applied with bright red lipstick, with an even darker red outline. She wears her black and gray hair up on top of her head, pinned with large fresh yellow flowers.

    Bealriz Nasquez Gomez – horizontal

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Portrait of Bealriz Nasquez Gomez in the town of Ocotlan de Morelos where she works at a restaurant inside the public market. She wears traditional dress from the Oaxaca region. And yes, that's a fresh flower in her hair. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Vertical photo of a woman working at a restaurant inside the public market in Ocotlan de Morelos. She wears traditional dress and apron embroidered with pink and red flowers and green stems and leaves. Her navy-blue scarf, wrapped around her neck and knotted in front, displays a similar red and pink flower design. Long, thick heavily mascaraed eyebrows almost converge at the bridge of her nose, framing dark brown eyes. She has traced her full lips, heavily applied with bright red lipstick, with an even darker red outline. She wears her black and gray hair up on top of her head, pinned with large fresh yellow flowers.

    Bealriz Nasquez Gomez – vertical

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Portrait of Bealriz Nasquez Gomez in the town of Ocotlan de Morelos where she works at a restaurant inside the public market. She wears traditional dress from the Oaxaca region. And yes, that's a fresh flower in her hair. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Vertical portrait of an older woman sitting in front of a red woven rug hanging behind her. Her simple blouse is patterned with tiny white flowers on a navy-blue background. Likely in her eighties, her face is heavily wrinkled. She beams proudly at the camera, her lips drawn tight in a peaceful smile. She wears her braided black and gray hair up over her head, intertwined with a scarf, the color of royal blue. Gold earrings dangle from her pierced ears.

    Agustina Mendoza

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Portrait of Agustina Mendoza, the matriarch of the Mendoza rug weaving family in the town of Teotitlán del Valle, Mexico. The family uses natural plant dyes grown on their compound to create their rugs. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Vertical portrait of man dressed for the carnival celebration of lent in the village of Tilcajete, Mexico. The man has painted his face in light-blue paint, which covers his forehead down to his chin. The blue paint also covers his short mustache and beard. He has painted three blue vertical lines down his face, across his eyes and cheeks; and down the middle of his forehead, nose, and chin. He wears a paper-mache jaguar head mask like a hat on the top of his head. About 35-peacock feathers protrude from the back of his head in a 180-degree arc. Over the top of a brown and white tie-dyed shirt, red-dyed corn and brown acorn necklaces hang around his neck.

    Blue man Tilcajete carnival

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Prior to Ash Wednesday the village of Tilcajete, near Oaxaca, celebrates carnival with imaginative animal and creature masks in chanting, grunting, colorful processions. Here, a carnival celebrant wears blue face paint with a jaguar mask on top of his head, and peacock feathers fanned out behind his head. (I have a similar shot of his female companion.) Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Vertical portrait of woman dressed for the carnival celebration of lent in the village of Tilcajete, Mexico. She has painted her face in light-blue paint, which covers her forehead down below her neck. Three blue vertical lines run down her face, forehead, eyes, cheeks, and chin. On top of her head, an American Indian-style headdress sprouts peacock feathers which stick up into the sky. Large multicolored earrings dangle from her ears. Four beaded necklaces drape over her jaguar-print shirt, underneath a long sleeve V-neck blouse with a faux fur collar. She carries a small human skull on a stick in her right hand.

    Blue woman Tilcajete carnival

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Prior to Ash Wednesday the village of Tilcajete, near Oaxaca, celebrates carnival with imaginative animal and creature masks in chanting, grunting, colorful processions. Here, a carnival celebrant wears blue face paint with a peacock head dress. (I have a similar shot of her male companion.) Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Horizontal photo of shirtless man dressed for the carnival celebration of lent in the village of Tilcajete, Mexico. His back is covered in black paint which has caked and dissolved in sweat from his activity in the hot sun. He has tied ten or more black cowbells around his waist, visible across the center third of the image. The cowbells bounce and carom into the air as he dances and chants. Underneath the cowbells we see a heavy burlap garment, stained from his black body paint, and fraying around the edges.

    Cowbell carnival cacophony

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Prior to Ash Wednesday the village of Tilcajete, near Oaxaca, celebrates carnival with imaginative animal and creature masks in chanting, grunting, colorful processions. Here, a carnival celebrant parades through the dusty village streets with his group of similarly-costumed friends. The cowbells strapped around his waist clang and and jangle as he grunts and dances. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Vertical portrait of a young boy costumed for the carnival celebration of lent in the village of Tilcajete, Mexico. His torso and shoulders are covered in dark black body paint, which glistens with sweat in the overhead sun. He has painted his face to look like a skull—white face paint with large black circles around each of his eyes. A triangular dash of black covers the tip of his nose. Thin vertical lines, drawn to appear as large teeth, cover the bottom of his cheeks and mouth. His hair is cut closely on the sides but sticks up in a compact black tousled bristle on the top of his head.

    Carnival boy – black & white skull mask

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Prior to Ash Wednesday the village of Tilcajete, near Oaxaca, celebrates carnival with imaginative animal and creature masks in chanting, grunting, colorful processions. A young boy celebrates carnival with his face painted to resemble a skull and his torso painted black. Many carnival celebrants cover their bodies in motor oil. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Vertical portrait of a young boy costumed for the carnival celebration of lent in the village of Tilcajete, Mexico. His torso and shoulders are covered in dark black body paint, which glistens with sweat in the overhead sun. He has painted his face in white—on top of which a red serpent winds around his eyes, cheeks, and chin. He wears an orange bandana accented with a black and white paisley print. His dark black hair spills over the top of the bandana as he stares directly at the camera.

    Carnival boy – red serpent mask

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Prior to Ash Wednesday the village of Tilcajete, near Oaxaca, celebrates carnival with imaginative animal and creature masks in chanting, grunting, colorful processions. A young boy celebrates carnival with a red serpent weaving around his white face, and his torso painted black. Many carnival celebrants cover their bodies in motor oil. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Horizontal photo of four large, light blue ceramic urns, 18-inches at the center diameter, that appear to have been abandoned in the church of Saint John the Baptist, located in San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca, Mexico. The dusty urns lean against a stucco wall, askew, on a table along with several discarded candleholders and an old hanging chain light fixture with four dirty bare lightbulbs.

    Forgotten blue urns

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    Three long-forgotten, dust-coated, blue ceramic urns sit abandoned on a dusty table in the organ loft of the church of Saint John the Baptist  in the village of San Juan Bautista Suchix Hahuca. Old wooden candlesticks lie strewn about the table. A still life image caught in time. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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  • Horizontal photo of an arched, covered walkway at the church of Saint John the Baptist in San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca, Mexico. A row of stone arches forms the right edge of the rock walkway on the right side of the image. The walkway diminishes in perspective to a solid wall, about 100-feet distant. On the left wall, in the front left of the photo, we see a brightly painted, teal-colored wooden door set into a curved stone arch.

    Teal arched doorway

    $822.00 – $2,832.00
    A stone walkway with arched teal door at the church of Saint John the Baptist in the village of San Juan Bautista Suchix Hahuca. Construction for this Renaissance architecture church was completed in 1576. Bekki and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, February of 2020 with my sister and brother-in-law who organize cultural trips to Central America and Mexico.  
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